Skip to main content

Fanfiction - How it can be fantastic for your classroom



     I heard about this idea and was intrigued.  The whole idea of helping students become better writers is pretty simple.  They need to write and they need meaningful feedback to become strong writers.  Fanfiction has the ability to address both of those key points.   (I know I am over simplifying the process just a little.)  



What is fanfiction?
     Have you ever want to know more about a certain character in a book?  Has a book ever left you hanging and wanting more?  So many books with so many unanswered questions!  This is where the idea of fanfiction comes into play.  A fan of a particular book, series or character picks up where they believe the author left off.  They will create a new work of fiction based upon what they have read.  (It seems to work well if the student author really loves the book/series/character they are writing about.)

Fanfiction Examples


These examples appear to be very polished.  I would assume there would be many revisions over time to correct errors and add story elements that might be missing.  That is no different than a traditional writing piece.

Getting Started Ideas

Where will you have your students writing?  It should be a place the kids write and edit over time.  The other necessity is the place they write must visible to the public.

blogger - All students will have an account.  It will be easy for the students to create a post and share it with the class.
pbworks - The examples above used pbworks.  The main advantage is this site allows all the writing to be in one simple place.  (We do have a district pbworks account.  Let us know if you would like us to set up an account for your class.)

I am sure there are many other options.  What other systems are we missing?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Like your ELMO but with an iPad (elementary classroom teachers)

I used AirServer to create the infinity mirror effect. We were in a meeting today and Dominic told us about this fantastic idea. As we discussed all things technology he explained one method of using the iPad as a portable ELMO. It was too cool not to share. Step 1 Make sure you have AirServer running on your laptop. 1. Click the Windows key on your keyboard or click the icon in the lower left of your screen. 2. Just start typing AirServer. 3. Click AirServer. Don't see it? Contact technology or your building tech person. Step 2 Connect your teacher iPad to your laptop. 1. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen. Start by swiping in the bezel, the black plastic part surrounding the screen. 2. Click AirPlay Mirroring. 3. Click your name. Step 3 Open the camera app and instant portable ELMO! Anything you see in the camera's len will be broadcast to the big screen. I just used this method to take a picture of my notebook as a demonstration of how co

Annotate PDF? How might I do that?

So I have a PDF and I need to edit it. Here is one method that works pretty well for me. Open Word. Click File .  1. Click Open . 2. Click Browse . 3. Find the PDF you want to annotate. 4. Click Open . Click OK when you see this box. Bam! Your PDF now opens in Word. Note: you maybe have to click Enable Editing at the top of the screen. Finished editing and want to turn it back into a PDF? Click File . 1. Click Save As . 2. Click This PC . 3. Pick a location. I usually save things to my desktop. 4. Click Save as type - and choose PDF. 5. Click Save .

Who is emailing me? The Blue Man Group??? (Add an image to your Google account.)

WHY It is always nice to put a face with a name. Sometimes we need a tiny little reminder of what someone looks like because we don't see them very often. Follow these steps to add/change the image associated with your Google account. HOW Open your email. Click your image. It might just be a blue circle if you have not added something already. Click Change . Find an image you like. Your amazing new image will appear. From now on everyone can put a name to a face!